The continuation of a May 31 rainout resulted in the Fort Calhoun Senior Legion baseball team's third loss in three days Friday.
After playing three complete innings last month, Louisville came back to Post 348's diamond for four more, winning 6-4. It was Zig Drywall's fourth-straight loss and third in a row by two or less runs.
“Right now, we are in the dog days and we're the dogs right now,” coach Jerry Wellwood said.
The Pioneers didn't have any room to rest in the shade, though, getting back on the road for two games Saturday in Auburn.
“It's tough, it's tough and it's more tough,” Wellwood said of the Seniors' schedule. “We've just got to keep grinding, and we have the guys here to do it.”
Calhoun would break its losing streak Saturday, but it would go 1-1 altogether against Syracuse and the host team, Auburn. First, Post 348 bested Syracuse 7-2.
The Pioneers all but secured the win — their 11th of the season — with a five-run third inning. Sam Genoways led it off with a walk before Josh Miranda bunted him to third base.
JT Mlnarik's double scored Genoways next, giving Zig Drywall a 3-2 advantage.
From there, Declyn Otte hit an RBI double and Chase Premer notched a three-run homer. Pitcher Kenny Wellwood held the lead from there, securing the win.
Against Auburn, though, the Pioneers managed just one run during a 4-1 loss. It came during the first frame before the home team produced the go-ahead runs in the fifth and, ultimately, earned the victory.
Coach Wellwood wasn't seeing what he needed to out of his roster to be successful after Friday's aforementioned loss to Louisville.
“We're not making winning plays when we need to,” he said.
While the road squad managed runs during the restarted fourth inning and then in the seventh, Fort Calhoun didn't manage any during its 17th loss of the summer. Carter Christensen and Colin Bolay notched singles, but Zig Drywall didn't threaten much beyond that.
“We're striking out too much,” Wellwood said. “We're walking too many batters and we make untimely errors. We don't lead off guys on in late innings to get over the top or tie it up.”
Genoways suffered the loss on the mound as the coach further lamented his team's block in the big moments.
“We haven't done anything to win a game,” he said. “That's our biggest flaw right now.”
On Saturday in Auburn, the trend ended, but only for a game.
FC drops games to Wahoo, Pride
The Fort Calhoun Seniors played June 26 and Thursday, too, going 0-for-2.
On June 26 in Wahoo, Post 348 battled back with four runs during the top of the seventh inning. The tallies evened the score at 5-5, but didn't prevent the home team from earning the 6-5, walk-off victory during the bottom half at Sam Crawford Field.
Genoways, Miranda, Mlnarik and Jordan Back all notched RBIs in defeat, while Kenny Wellwood scored two runs. Bolay started for Post 348 and left without a decision, striking out five batters across 4 2/3 innings.
The next night, Thursday, Zig Drywall again attempted a comeback. It scored four runs across the sixth and seventh innings, but still fell short against the Kelly Ryan Pride — 7-5.
Genoways led Fort Calhoun with two RBIs in defeat, while Mlnarik and Back had one apiece.
Mlnarik stuck out four batters from the mound, too, while Miranda picked up two Ks in three innings.
POST 348 SENIOR LINE SCORES
Saturday
Auburn 4, Fort Calhoun 1
FC (11-18) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 1
AUBURN 0 0 0 0 3 1 X — 4
Fort Calhoun 7, Syracuse 2
SRY 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 — 2
FC (11-17) 2 0 5 0 0 0 X — 7
Friday
Louisville 6, Fort Calhoun 4
LOUIS 2 0 2 1 0 0 1 — 6
FC (10-17) 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 — 4
Thursday
Kelly Ryan Pride 7, Fort Calhoun 5
KRP 1 1 0 4 0 0 1 — 7
FC (10-16) 0 0 1 0 0 1 3 — 5
June 26
Wahoo 6, Fort Calhoun 5
FC (10-15) 1 0 0 0 0 0 4 — 5
WAHOO 0 0 2 0 2 1 1 — 6
